Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Profitable corn and soybean production is extremely important to Wisconsin agriculture. In 2009, Wisconsin producers planted nearly 3 million acres of corn worth $1.0 billion. Another 1 million acres worth $0.7 billion was planted for corn silage to support our dairy industry. Soybeans worth $0.6 billion were harvested from 1.6 million acres.

Faced with fluctuating prices and rising production costs, farmers today must be well informed about new technologies to be profitable. The 2012 Corn and Soybean Conference meeting series is sponsored by the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association, the Wisconsin Soybean Association and UWEX. These Corn and Soybean Conferences are designed to provide technical insight, practical advice and interaction with university and industry experts and fellow growers.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Department of Agronomy will offer Crop Production and Management Meetings at eight locations during 2012. Joe Lauer, Dan Undersander and Shawn Conley will present the latest information on hybrid/variety performance, an analysis and discussion of last year's growing season, and updated recommendations for field crop production.

The registration fee includes a meal and materials. Please pre-register with the Host Agent. A “walk-in” (Late) fee will be charged to those who have not preregistered. Additional information packets will be available for $18.00 each. Certified Crop Advisor CEU credits have been requested (2.5 hours in Crop Management). Below is a list of topics, meeting sites, dates and times. Please join us at meeting in your area.

Monday, December 12, 2011

In 2011, the UW Corn Hybrid Evaluation program conducted an organic hybrid/variety trial for corn at 7 locations in Wisconsin. The objective is to provide producers information on performance and characteristics of corn in a certified organic production system. Where possible the trials were conducted using approved organic production practices. At other sites where land was not certified organic, the trials were placed alongside conventional trials. Seed used for the trials was either produced organically or was untreated.

Organic production is defined as “a production system that is managed, in accordance with the Organic Food Production Act and Regulations (October 2002), to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity.” The organic system is “a plan of management of an organic production operation that has been agreed to by the producer and the certifying agent and includes written plans concerning all aspects of agricultural production or handling described in the act and the regulations.

Since 2004, the UW Corn Agronomy program has evaluated organic hybrids for Wisconsin farmers. For results from previous years, see the UW Corn Hybrid Trials program webpage.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Spring planting during 2011 was challenging due to cool, wet planting conditions, especially in northeastern Wisconsin where planting progress was delayed. Over the entire growing season, growing degree-day accumulations were below the 30-year normal. Precipitation was below average in southern Wisconsin, while northern Wisconsin had above average precipitation. Due to a dry and cool September and October, good grain drying occurred. Little insect or disease pressure was observed in most trials. High winds caused above average plant lodging conditions at dry locations. The killing frost date occurred in October. Harvest grain moisture was lower than normal in all trials, while yields were above the 10-year average at most sites. Fall weather conditions were ideal for harvest and fall farm work.

Weather at Arlington significantly deviated from the 30-year normal average for both Growing Degree Unit accumulation and precipitation (Figure 1). Growing Degree Unitaccumulation was below normal as well as precipitation. Meanwhile, Marshfield ended the growing season comparable to the 30-year normal average (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Growing degree unit accumulation and precipitation at the UW-ARS in Arlington during 2011.

Figure 2. Growing degree unit accumulation and precipitation at the UW-ARS in Marshfield during 2011.

Monday, December 5, 2011

The University of Wisconsin corn hybrid trials are a good indicator of the type of year experienced by farmers around the state. These trials tend to be planted early and harvested at optimal times, so they are are a good estimate of potential yields at various locations over an entire growing season (see map).

Grain yields were above the 10-year average at 9 of 12 locations (Table 1). Yield was below the 10-year average at Arlington, Hancock and Valders. For example, at Arlington during the 10-year period between 2001 to 2010, a total of 1988 hybrids were tested with an average yield of 216 bu/A. At Arlington during 2011, 150 hybrids averaged 194 bu/A. The 2011 yield was 10% below the previous 10-year average. The highest yielding locations were Janesville and Lancaster at 230 and 231 bu/A averaged over 150 hybrids. The lowest yielding location was Valders at 151 bu/A averaged over 144 hybrids tested. The location with the greatest increase was Spooner, which yielded 17% above the 10-year average.

Table 1. Grain summary of locations in the 2011 Wisconsin corn performance trials. Yield is in bushels per Acre at 15.5% moisture.

Silage yields were above the 10-year average for 8 of 9 sites (Table 2). For example at Arlington during the period between 2001 and 2010, a total of 642 hybrids produced an average yield of 9.6 T/A. In 2011, 62 hybrids produced an average yield of 9.2 T/A. This was a 4% decrease over the previous 10-year average. The highest yielding location was Galesville at 9.9 T/A. The location with the greatest increase was Coleman with an 18% increase over the previous 10-year average.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Some new features were added to the 2011 report on Wisconsin corn hybrid trials. In Table 2, transgenic traits are described by the technology brand of the developing company with traits listed after the technology brand.

Specific transgenic events of the technologies are listed in Table 3. The year that these technologies were first introduced into the UW corn trials is listed along with the number of hybrids that were tested for each technology in 2011. For example, 96 hybrids were tested with the Agrisure® 3000GT technology which was first introduced into the trials in 2008. The second most popular hybrid technology was Genuity™ VT Triple Pro™ with 73 hybrids tested using the technology. The third most popular technology was YieldGard® VT Triple with 53 hybrids. A total of 83 conventional hybrids were tested in the trials this year.

Since 2004, we have tested 146 different seed treatment combinations on hybrids entered into the trial. The most popular seed treatment in 2011 (a total of 121 hybrids) in the trial was Dynasty+MaximXL | Cruiser25 (Table 4).

We have decided to include an extra location in the northern production zone (see map), which brings the total number of locations in this zone to five grain trials and four silage trials. Statewide there are 15 locations for testing grain hybrids and 11 locations for testing silage hybrids.

The final major change in the report was the performance tables themselves (Tables 7 to 23). Only traits are listed in the tables, rather than specific transgenic events

These new features are intended to make the report more readable and useful for farmers. Any suggestions for improvements are always appreciated.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Results from the 2011 crop variety trials conducted by the University of Wisconsin can be found at the websites below. These trials are a "consumer report" of commercial varieties and hybrids offered for sale to farmers in Wisconsin. These results are derived from replicated plots grown around Wisconsin at university research stations and farmer fields.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Every year, the University of WisconsinExtension-Madison and College of Agricultural and Life Sciences conduct a cornevaluation program, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Crop ImprovementAssociation. The purpose of this program is to provide unbiased performancecomparisons of hybrid seed corn available in Wisconsin. These trials evaluatecorn hybrids for both grain and silage production performance.

In 2011, grain and silage performance trials wereplanted at thirteen locations in four production zones. Both seed companies anduniversity researchers submitted hybrids. The results are posted at

Thursday, September 15, 2011

For many corn growers, the 2011 growing season came to an end last night over much of northern Wisconsin. Corn in many areas had not reached physiological maturity and was killed prematurely. Corn is killed when temperatures are near 32 F for a few hours, and when temperatures are near 28 F for a few minutes. A damaging frost can occur when temperatures are slightly above 32 F and conditions are optimum for rapid heat loss from the leaves to the atmosphere, i.e. clear skies, low humidity, no wind. At temperatures between 32 to 40 F, damage may be quite variable and strongly influenced by small variations in slope or terrain that affect air drainage and thermal radiation, creating small frost pockets. Field edges, low lying areas, and the top leaves on the plant are at greatest risk. Greener corn has more frost resistance than yellowing corn.

Symptoms of frost damage will start to show up about 1 to 2 days after a frost. Frost symptoms are water soaked leaves that eventually turn brown. Because it is difficult to distinguish living from dead tissue immediately after a frost event, the assessment should be delayed 5 to 7 days.

For fields that only had light frost damage, it is too early to harvest. Growing conditions may improve during September allowing the crop to mature and produce reasonable grain and silage yields.